Voldemort's Daughter
by LilyLoved
Summary: As Voldemort's secret daughter, Pandora is sent to Hogwarts for a special mission. Although, while she's there, she discovers a world full of love and warmth. Forced to decide between her heart and her mind, Pandora must choose a side.  Set in 6th book
1. Chapter 1

All my life, I was led to believe that love didn't exist. If you clung to that notion, I'd brand you foolish and unrealistic. I lived a cold and barren existence simply because I didn't know there was any other way to live. I'd seen glimpses of happiness and love, but they were always canceled out by fear: the fear of my father-of Voldemort.

I never realized that my life could be full of amazement and happiness, not until I met _him._ He opened my eyes to a new world of love and warmth; a world where I could flourish and others mattered just as much as I did.

I realized this only after I left the one place that I ever felt was my home.

Pandora gazed up at the ceiling of the Great Hall as she stood in line to be sorted into a house. The room certainly was beautiful and it reflected her care-free mood-which was very different than the quivering first-years in front of her. She already knew which house she'd be in. She could see it now: Before the sorting hat would barely be placed upon her head, it would scream out with great enthusiasm "Slytherin!" and she would gladly, and with great pride, saunter off to be with her fellow kinsmen.

Soon it was her turn to be sorted and her name "Pandora Rider" was called. She confidently walked up to the front of the room and, as the hat was placed on her head, she heard whispering all around her. "That's not a first year!" and "She's too old" and "Is she a transfer?" could be heard contagiously spreading throughout the room. She gave a glare to all of them and crossed her arms, looking up at the sorting hat for an answer.

"Hmm..." the hat debated. "You come from a long line of Slytherins, no doubt." Pandora rolled her eyes and nodded her head. "But I see something greater within you," he went on to say. "I see a great deal of courage and confidence-a good match for Gryffindor. Yet I also see an unwavering loyalty-"

"Just put me in Slytherin already," Pandora hissed quietly at the hat.

"Slytherin, you say?" the hat asked. "Ah yes, Slytherin. I see the utmost cunning in you, but your ambition...it doesn't seem to stem from the right place...I say, Ravenclaw!"

"Ravenclaw?" she breathed, frozen with shock. The room hadn't stopped whispering and she didn't get up until Professor McGonagall gave her a nudge in the right direction. She mindlessly walked over to the table and sat herself down, still dumbfounded.

"I am sorry, Miss Rider, but you cannot change houses," Professor Flitwick told Pandora as he straightened a pile of music on his desk. "We've been able to place you in fifth year classes because of your home-schooling, but I'm afraid we can do nothing more."

Her eyes seemed to light up at that. "And Harry Potter, he's a sixth year, isn't he?" she asked eagerly.

Flitwick gave her a strange look but reluctantly nodded. "Why do you ask?"

She smiled pleasantly and simply said, "Well, he's famous, sir."

Up at the Ravenclaw common room, Pandora began to unpack her trunk. "I don't see why I didn't make it into Slytherin, Nagini," she angrily told her father's enormous snake in Parseltongue. "I mean, my father practically made the house what it is!"

The snake, who was sitting on Pandora's bed, nodded in agreement.

"I just-"

Pandora heard a creak on the stairs to her dorm room. She quickly got to her feet and pointed her wand at the door. "Who's there?" she called out aggressively, jerking the door open with a flick of her wand.

Standing in the doorway was a sandy-haired boy with freckles who looked just about Pandora's age. He had his hand up to knock, but let it rest at his side now that there was no need.

"I'm sorry, I'm just...I was wondering what that noise was. It sounded like a-" his sapphire eyes then rested on Nagini. "Oh, a snake." His face then brightened up and he smiled. "I'm sorry," he reiterated, walking closer to Pandora with his hand outstretched.

"My name's August," he told her, shaking her hand.

"Pandora," she said, smiling weakly.


	2. Chapter 2

Pandora quietly walked down the dark corridors of the dungeon, hearing nothing but the echoing of her own footsteps on the black, stone floor. Stopping, she faced the closest wall and whispered the password. The Slytherin common room then revealed itself to her and she slipped in just as the entrance closed.

"Dora?" she could hear someone whisper. Tucking a lock of her curly black hair behind her ear, she turned to the source of the voice and smiled. Looking up at those familiar steely gray eyes in the green lit room, Pandora couldn't help but giggle fondly. "Well, the password seemed to work, Draco."

Before long, they were lounging on the couches at the center of the common room like two regular Slytherins; anyone who said otherwise was chased off by one of Draco's menacing glares.

Pandora looked over at Draco with a worried stare. He looked worse than the last time she saw him. There were bags under his eyes and he kept looking over his shoulder like some paranoid St. Mungo's patient. He looked almost.._.ill. _She knew he had an important mission, but she didn't know it'd cause him this much anguish.

"So, how're you liking Hogwarts?" he asked as he got comfortable. He was sprawled out on the sofa, looking like a king on his throne while Pandora sat across from him, smiling at his usual regal attitude.

"Well, I've only been here a few days," she said with a chuckle. "But it's alright. A bit..._cheery_ compared to what I'm familiar with, but I could get used to it." Draco was currently staring at the ceiling, but Pandora knew he'd be listening. He always did- Well, to her, at least. "And I met a boy," she remarked loudly, knowing it would spark his attention. It did.

Draco's head whipped around and a guttural noise emanated from the back of his throat. Seeing that Pandora noticed this, he tried to look impartial. "He your boyfriend?" he asked nonchalantly, running his fingers through his silvery locks.

Letting out a chuckle at his response, she hid her urge to blush. Looking over at him, she raised her eyebrows, reflecting his feigned indifference. "Of course not, Draco," she told him plainly. "The boy's actually helping me with my task," Pandora explained, dropping her act. "Unknowingly, of course. He's a real Potter fan- was in his little group last year." She stopped, knowing that the same group was there the night Draco's father was sent to Azkaban. He didn't seem to react, though. Yet again, Draco was always good at hiding his emotions. "Anyway, he'll get me access to Potter."

Draco was, yet again, staring at the ceiling. Sighing, Pandora frowned and walked over to him. Putting her hands on her hips, she looked down at him and shook her head. Draco could be so inattentive at times and it was _extremely_ frustrating. "Well, I better go," Pandora told him solemnly, turning for the door.

"Pandora," Draco called, exasperated at her obvious mood change. Getting to his feet, he turned her around. "Listen," he told her, looking her straight in the eye. "I don't like this person," he motioned to her current expression. "Well, you know- you act differently around me. I just haven't seen a lot of _that girl_ lately. I like the person you are when you're around me-"

"And I like the person _you _are around me," she interrupted, laying her finger on his chest with a gentle smile.

"What I'm trying to say is that, when you're around others, you're...angry and intimidating. That's not _you_, Dora. It just reminds me of...of-"

"Of my father?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Draco sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Dora," their eyes met again. "You know I care about you," he told her earnestly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"We are family, after all."


End file.
